At 18 years old I was playing with a handgun and I accidentally shot my friend. I lost my friend and in my view my life was over. At that time I was working for the FBI as a clerk. I was never involved in any sort of criminal behavior but I wasn’t motivated about my life and I was a slacker (懒鬼). Consequently I was sentenced to 8–20 years. I ended up serving 10. But in prison something clicked in terms of being an active participant in my own life and taking ownership of the process. I was always talented academically but I didn’t live up to my potential. I began to read everything I could get my hands on. I went to every academic program. I attended them many times in the years that followed. When college was offered in prison through Saint Francis College of Loretto, I was one of the first students to attend. I ended up graduating with an Associate Degree with honors. Through education, I learned what I wanted my life to be. It’s funny how things work.

But when I was released from prison, I went further. I applied to NYU and was accepted. I graduated from NYU with BS with top honors. I didn’t stop there though. I went on and earned my MSW with distinction from NYU as well. I’m now a practicing social worker in NYC and every day I give back to society in positive ways. Many of my friends would no doubt be shocked to learn of my imprisonment and I often wonder would they understand. In many ways much of my life is a secret and it’s a burden that I have to bear. But it’s mine to bear and I take full responsibility. I use it to help others realize their dreams and goals and honor my friend’s memory.

I know there’re many others like me who made mistakes in their lives that set them way off course from their expectations and hopes for themselves. You can make the life you dream of. It’s never too late to make a new start and reclaim your life. Someone once told me that no matter what happens morning will come and you’ll see the sunshine. I’m bathing in the sunlight. Never give up.

I will never forget the first dessert class at a cooking school in France, where a group of anxious dessert students (myself included) were tasked with preparing an apple pie. It looked simple enough, but I soon realized that it was as far from simple as it could be. However, my knife and I mastered this French classic, as well as dozens of others.

After graduating, I found a job at a modern American restaurant in Florida. Despite the restaurant’s tiny kitchen, I was excited to work under Sylvia, the executive chef (主厨). The first job she gave me was to make apple pies. I couldn’t have been more excited — until I realized these pies were actually in the form of a dumpling. But my education had made me stick to French tradition. It took me a minute to get comfortable with this way of cooking again. Slowly, I was forgetting my French tradition, and beginning to go with the flow more. The response from diners was good. Our desserts were sold out on most days.

Then one day, chef Sylvia gave me the chance to make a new dessert and planned to add it to the menu for a week. Surprised and touched by the chance, I decided to go all out. I created a seasonal citrus mousse (柑橘慕斯) made with Florida oranges and pistachio croquant (a crisp, delicate cookie). But after a week, the apple pie dumplings continued to far outsell my special dessert. A sense of frustration went inside of me.

It finally made me aware that there isn’t one “right” way to understand a cuisine, or set of ingredients (配料). Where one chef can look at apples, butter, and flour and see a French apple pie, another might see baked apple dumplings. Even though each person’s translation may be different, I think they all deserve a spot on the table. And that was the most important lesson I discovered, through something as seemingly simple as fruit and dough (生面团).

I started a Facebook page in July, and it’s steadily growing! The best part isn’t the number of its “followers” but its comments — I love reading about what people do, their ideas and views and get some feedback (反馈) on what I’m doing too.

In April of this year, I was invited by a friend to join her Social Change group. We were eight women from all walks of life, but we had one thing in common — we live in a fantastic country and yet we can see homeless people on the streets asking for money. We have a generous welfare system and a social housing scheme — but it’s a problem that is getting worse. We asked ourselves: What happens to homeless women?

Therefore, we volunteered at shelters. We met with social housing providers, shelter managers and social workers, and began to think what else we could do. We researched on which programs were having success. We had guest speakers at our meetings and began to get a clear picture about what we needed to do.

As luck would have it, we have been gifted a building in the city center. It’s old and needs a lot of work to bring it up to the standard. We want to provide more than just shelter to women in need. We aim to have six self-contained apartments providing full social services for women to stay in for up to two years. Thanks to the building provider, we have got our project off the ground.

I’m an ordinary person. If I can do this, anyone can. You can change the world. Look for the opportunity and just do it.